358 THE RAPE CROP. 



As soon as the plants have made a little growth, 

 the horse-hoes should be sent in, to keep the spaces 

 clean between the -drills; and this operation should be 

 speedily followed up, say when the plants are a fort- 

 night old, by hoeing out the plants in the rows, so as 

 to leave a certain space 3 to 6 inches between each as, 

 if they are allowed to stand too close, they grow up spindly 

 and weak, and the leaves of the lower portion of the stem 

 get discoloured and speedily drop off. A narrow hoe should 

 be used for this purpose, though frequently the ordinary 

 hoe is used, the narrower cut being made by holding it 

 sideways, and care should be taken not to injure in any 

 way the plants that are left standing, which should be, 

 as well as can be managed, the best and stoutest in the 

 drill. A slovenly, and after all, expensive way of thinning, 

 seen in some places, is effected by merely dragging the 

 harrows across the drills two or three times, which 

 either pull up or destroy a proportion of the plants, and 

 are expected, at the same time, to clean the surface as 

 effectually as the horse-hoeing of the advanced farmer. 



As the plant, under favourable conditions, is a rapid 

 grower, the horse -hoe cannot be used so frequently or 

 at so late a period of the growth as with the turnip crop ; 

 and if its growth continues unimpeded by injury from 

 weather or from insects, it soon reaches its maturity, 

 in the shape of a vigorous plant, from 3 to 4 feet high, 

 with fleshy leaves, and a full succulent stem, which is 

 generally the part most relished by the sheep, and eaten 

 entirely down to the ground. In feeding it off by sheep, 

 a small break should be hurdled off at first, and gradually 

 increased ; the stock should be carefully watched, as, owing 

 to the richness and succulence of the keep, inflammatory 

 attacks of the intestines, &c., sometimes ensue. It is 

 always desirable to have some dry food, as straw or 

 chaff, on the ground, for the sheep to resort to; a lump 



